New Collector Needs Help
 

Hi guys, I'm Lee from the UK and have been a long time comic book fan mainly Marvel, anyway haven't had any toys/action figures for over 20years now and after watching the Toyhunter shows it has reignited my interest. I initially started a few months ago buying some old He Man and Ghostbusters figures, they were good but old and loose anyway after looking down the old school route of toy collecting I've decided against this as it seems an expensive choice to collect especially looking at mint in packaging items. I've now started looking at the more recent Marvel items mainly Legends and Universe, was looking at the Select ones also but have decided against these as they are too large for me. The Legends seem nice at 6inch and there are a lot of them about maybe too many and a bit expensive for me. I'm swaying towards the 3.75 inch Universe line as there are a lot about, MOC which is what i want, they are cheaper and they are more recent and not as many as the Legends. I actually want to start off collecting with the thought of getting the whole collection eventually and this seems more possible with the Universe figures. Sorry for the long post but I'll now get on to what I was going to ask, what's everyone's thoughts on Legends vs Universe and lastly I've now noticed the other lines and wanted to know the difference these being the 1. Marvel Universe Epic Hero's Legends 2. Marvel Universe Infinite Legends and 3. Marvel Infinite. Hope you guys can help me out and guide me into making the right move of which line to collect, please be gentle. Cheers Lee

Oh, well me personally I prefer Marvel Universe (now rebranded as Marvel Infinite) because you get more character variety and they take up less space. Neither scale has done every character obviously, but I think there are more done in the 3.75" scale. The smaller scale definitely has a lot more fan service with some of the more obscure and less known characters getting toys too.

I'll be honest with you, since you want a MOC collection its going to be an expensive (really expensive) journey for you may it be 3.75" or 6". You want to keep cost down, then you should decide if you will complete the whole line or just pick up the characters you like, its important to have a goal since you are basically catching up to a line that started several years ago. Good luck and welcome to the boards.

Marvel (either universe or infinite) 3.75 is the way to go brother! the marvel universe line is the way to go. you got selection, size, articulation, sculpting. I've been collecting this line since the beginning in 09, I just completed my collection. now is the time! you could pick up most of the line MIP at pretty good prices right now because the rebranding has led to quite a few people dumping there collections. If I was just getting on board and starting from scratch I'd save a few bucks and go the ebay rout, I've seen large lots, and close to complete collections go for a 4-8 dollars per figure, which is far less than retail. there are a few gems (like Vision and some of the SDCC exclusives ) that you will have to bite the bullet on, but there are a lot of MU/MI fans in the UK who are known for there ability to hook folks up. I'd PM UKMU (you can find his posts on the 3.75 appreciation thread) He's the man in Britannia. I say all of this with a warning: you will fell crack like withdrawals, fits of rage, violent thoughts, ulcer inducing stress, and a deep seeded love hate, rage filled relationship with Hasbro. your disposable income will disappear, you will drive ridiculous distances to look for product, and all of this may alienate you from your loved ones... but its totally worth it! and you'll always have us.

Ha, thanks for the warm welcome guys, you fella's crack me up. Glad you said Universe as this is what i was swaying to, smaller and easier to store until one of my girls leave home and i convert their bedroom into my man cave (not wishing them away mind the eldest is only 9 ha), which by that time i will have a decent collection to display. which brings me to my next question are you guys into collecting the figures in general and keeping them in the boxes or opening up and displaying them in an ACBA fashion? im thinking i might get into the latter later down the line after watching a load of vids on you tube it looks cool. I also like the Universe line as the packaging looks like its easy to open and keep in tact for future, not like the sealed plastic on the Legends line. Anyway just set up my own ebay account this week as i've used my wifes the last 10 years and with me getting into this i cant be bothered with the moaning i'll get from her everytime she gets a notification that i've bought another figure, ha. Anywway speaking of ebay im off to search for that 1st purchase, what i've seen i might start off with one of the Comic pack with 2 figures, loving the Wolverine vs Hulk and Juggernaut vs Colossus pack, see you soon Lee

Hey Lee..... welcome to the party!!! Glad your going the 3.75" route! I know a few ebay sellers that will give you a decent discount too. My best advice is pick a team and get them first. I am an Avengers guy so we started there. It quickly snowball's out of control though so watch out, we don't call it plastic crack because it breaks. Also, maybe get the more expensive harder to find figures first. It will make it easier in the long run.

As Kylactus stated there a few collectors getting out so now is a GREAT time to jump in. Soon you too will to constantly complain about Hasbro like us....don't worry, it will come naturally in time. I know a few guys that have large collections for around $6 per figure and with the exchange rates WAY in your favour that could be a good direction to go.

Most of us, say 90%, on here are play and display collectors. We also have the most hard-core completing MOC (mint on card) collectors around. So there is a good mix and a lot of knowledge to be had.

Good to see you and hope you stick around. Remember, there is still time to abandon this crazy idea of collecting MU....don't say we didn't warn you! ;)

Too late mate just made my first purchases, I think I've got myself a bargain bought the Juggernaut/Colossus and Doc Strange/Silver Surfer comic packs for £10 each from one of the well know toy stores looks like a good price after seeing what they are selling for on ebay, can't wait to get them :)

Good choice, Vortious Customs does a sh*t tonne of custom cast bits like helmets and heads, so he has a Juggernaut helmet if you want to ever open him up and give him a removeable one.
Best to buy a good few bits at a time to cut down on postage though, I forgot I wanted a Dr Doom head with a removeable mask so I would have had to pay $20 in postage just for it.

Cheers for the advice fellow brit, I know I'm going to find it hard not to open them, the more vids I watch of the collections and the positions and action poses people have them in I know I'm going to have to get my mits on them, I'll just see how long I can hold out. The only reason I think I'll be able to hold off opening them is I have a family home with two kids and no spare rooms to display my stuff I have a shed load of comics that are just in my wardrobe and I don't mind that as they aren't the kind of thing you can have on display where as the figures is a different matter it seems a shame to put them in a box in the loft, I'll try have them on display in the living room on the cabinet until I have too many and the Mrs tells me to shift them ha.

Haha, my mum's the same. Tell your kids they need to share a room; daddy's collection takes precedent now XD.

Hey fellas, still looking at figures and as im new i am wondering are the Marvel Universe Infinite figures a follow up to the Universe line or are they totally new? is it like starting from scratch again as in will i be better to start collecting these seeing as they only came out recently then that gives me chance to be in from the beginning and collect them all or do i stay with the Universe seeing as i have just bought my first set, 2 comic packs and 2 single carded figures???? cheers.

The Infinite 3.75" line is a sort of sequel or re-imagining of the Marvel Universe line. We get some of the tail end of Vonner's work in the Infinite line, so a lot of people liked that. To me the whole Infinite thing is just Hasbro slapping on a new label and using cheaper boxes to basically just continue MU with a fresh face. It's fairly common to get MI as well as MU, especially if you're going to open them up for display then it really doesn't matter which ones are from MU or from MI because for the most part they're all made on the same field of design. So I'd say go ahead and get into both, there are some characters you'll need for team building that are only in one of the two.

Cheers for the response mate, think I'm going to stick with Universe, on the mention of opening them up is it possible to open them carefully leaving the box in tact or is everyone of the opinion if its open its open and the box doesnt matter. Really stuck at the moment as to whether or not open them up, I love them in the packaging but want to feel and play with them also. I haven't really got anywhere to display them in the boxes but if they were out they wouldn't take up as much room???? Decisions decisions: (

now that you have a couple 2 Packs.... get a couple of loose figures from the Chinese sellers on ebay. Then have a few open and a few on card.... decide then.

Hey UKMU, how come Chinese sellers in particular? are they fake?

I don't do this for my MU figures, though I wish I had for some, but for some of my adult collectible figures if I want to keep the cardback in as good a condition as possible I use an exacto knife. I just carefully run it around the perimeter of the bubble as close to the card as I feel comfortable and then I have the cardback well saved just with a little layer of clear plastic that outlines where the bubble used to be. It requires a very steady hand with an almost surgical approach, but if you want to open the toy and keep the cardback then it's one of the best ways for blister packed toys.

I believe it's been said before somewhere on this site; something like spare figures from the production line I think.

More confused now, been looking at the Legends Infinite sets and seeing as they have only been going since 2013 it seems they will be easy to collect and catch up on.
Been looking at BIG BAD TOY STORE and the cases of the full sets seem good value once shipped to the UK. Do you guys collect both 6 inch and 3.75? (Which do you prefer) think that is my main decision to make. I just keep reading bad things about Hasbro has given up on the 3.75 market so that's making want to future proof myself and pick the right line to collect now, which seems to be 6 inch Legends Infinite, as im getting into it late in the day there is no way im going to go the old Legends route.
Need help fella's Pleeeeese :(

Hasbro has been doing Marvel Universe 3.75" line since 09', in 2013 they basically changed the packaging and re-branded it to infinite. here's a complete list if you're looking to be a completionest.
Marvel Universe (toyline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Legends has been around since before Hasbro even had the license
(Legends started in 02' with Toy Biz) here's a list for Legends:
Marvel Universe (toyline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

honestly your chances of putting together a complete set of Universe/ infinite is much better than a Legends set for a couple reasons:

1:there are a hell of a lot more legends
2: they take up much more room
3: cost! aftermarket, the only MU figure you're going to pay more than 100$ for will be Vision, where as Legends has a bunch of rare/ hard to find figures that will run you in the 1-200$ range
4:if you're talking playability Universe can fit Star Wars, Ninja Turtles, Gi Joe Vehicles and accessories, Legends not so much.

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet but you may wanna try some of the discount stores in your area. Not sure if they work the same way as they do here in the states but I have found both 3.75 and 6 inch Marvel figures at places like Ross, Marshalls and TJ Maxx for cheap. Could be the way to go to fill in some gaps in your collection,

Hey there, I was only referring to starting to collect the new Legends Infinite line, not the original Legends, I know collecting the old ones would be hard work and very expensive but going down the new Infinite ones not so much.

Hey there, I was only referring to starting to collect the new Legends Infinite line, not the original Legends, I know collecting the old ones would be hard work and very expensive but going down the new Infinite ones not so much.

If you want a cheap MOC Universe collection the best bet would be save up and watch for someone selling their collection. Then you can be done with it save the few they are likely to be missing. Would take a lot of patience so make just buy a few big lots to start.